Fitness is an important part of human health. This is especially true as we get older. Regular exercise can help increase your mood, your sleep, and your overall quality of life. But even with all of this, fitness is often overlooked by Medicare providers when they are seeking to improve their CAHPS score.

• Creating incentives to improve the quality of care.
• Producing comparable data on patients' perspectives.
• Increasing transparency within healthcare to make the public more accountable.

More often than not, Medicare providers mistakenly overlook the potential benefits of including fitness or wellness services to their beneficiaries. By making efforts to increase the overall health of their populations, CAHPS scores will increase and providers can show more members that their service is uniquely capable of benefiting their health. 

Focus on Wellness

CAHPS scores are reliant on a number of measures. While most focus on timely care and communication, some of them can be directly influenced by a patient’s access to resources that increase their overall health. Encouraging members to exercise regularly can make a noticeable impact on your scores. Utilizing innovative wellness programs can be the push your plan needs to grab the attention of potential new members.

Fitness programs can offer more than just keeping the body healthy. Studies show that exercise is good for maintaining and improving mental health. This is true for older adults as well, especially when it comes to aerobic exercise. According to the National Library of Medicine, both anxiety disorders and depression can be reduced with regular physical activity. Considering that CAHPS scores are largely dependent on customer experience, tools to help reduce depression and anxiety can go a long way. 

Peerfit Move is a good example of a fitness service that can be added to a standard Medicare health plan in order to increase CAHPS Scores. It offers access to a number of senior-focused health and wellness programs. Peerfit Move offers FitOn Health as well, so members can stream fitness, nutrition, wellness, mental health and self care courses to their home devices. These lessons range from physical fitness classes to meditations and other wellness methods aimed at mental health. 

Additionally, FitOn Health provides condition-specific wellness courses to address issues facing Medicare populations. Courses range from diabetes management, musculoskeletal & pain management, hypertension management, weight loss for heart health, beating burnout and more.

The bottom line is that CAHPS scores will increase in relation to customer satisfaction. Offering benefits that go beyond the status quo will make your plan stand out from the rest of the pack. CAHPS surveys are filled out by Medicare Advantage members, so ensuring your members have everything they need is a primary way to raise your score. 

Quality of Care in CAHPS Scores

One of the three main goals of CAHPS is the incentivization to provide higher quality care. Medicare providers need to start thinking outside the box. Quality of care is often thought of as a patient’s experience with doctors and hospital staff. Were they nice? Were they informative? Did they treat the patient in a timely manner? 

These are all tied into the idea of quality care. However, there are so many ways to go beyond just selecting good doctors. Promoting preventive care and offering services for members to take control of their own health will help show that your plan is going above and beyond the norm. While some forms of preventive care must be offered in health plans, like shots and vaccinations, many other highly effective offerings go overlooked. 

Weight management, mental health, and strengthening bones and joints are each an important part of preventive care. The Mayo Clinic recommends at least 150 minutes of moderate intensity aerobic exercise  every week. For someone trying to lose weight, this number is doubled. Obesity is one of the leading causes of health issues in the U.S. and they only become magnified as people age. This is why CAHPS aims to prompt healthcare and Medicare providers to focus on overall quality. 

When the body is kept healthy, it can heal quicker and more effectively. This is especially true when it comes to obesity and type 2 diabetes. People often forget the toll that diabetes can take on your bones. Obesity weakens bones and joints due to the increased pressure constantly pushing and pulling on them. In either case, diet and exercise are often the best treatments. PeerFit Move offers members access to a variety of local fitness programs designed for all needs and limitations. This way every user can find a program that will benefit them the most while connecting them to a network of like-minded people for support and advice. 

The goal of a CAHPS score is to ensure that Medicare Advantage members get the best available care. With  focused effort and some innovative thinking, raising your CAHPS score might be more attainable than you once believed.

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